


Your Story is my Tale

by ceria



Category: The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-14
Updated: 2008-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-25 08:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1642088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceria/pseuds/ceria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate ending for The Brothers Grimm movie with Wilhelm/Jacob Grimm, therefore slash and incest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Story is my Tale

**Author's Note:**

> Written for csi_sanders1129

 

 

Musicians danced along the rooftops, skipping from building to building as the villagers below, music following them everywhere. Before entering the village, Angelica had told them were invited back whenever they wished; a small, wistful smile on her face as she glanced from one brother to another. Leaving Jake to wonder what she thought.

She'd not been nearly as disgusted as Jake had expected, not with her dancing between the girls in the field, kissing Will then Jake. And he grinned, knowing that he'd kissed her first - which made it twice. He'd saved her, and then saved Will; not from some trumped up act they had created to begin with, but from a _real_ threat. 

He clutched his book to his chest, still thankful to Cavaldi for it, and continued to skip in time with the music, Will walking alongside him, nothing else necessary in the world. Enemies of the state? So be it. They were the brothers Grimm and he'd snatched Will back from death. Couldn't ask for more than that, after all.

He felt like Icarus in that moment, able to touch the sun if he only stretched just a little. Until Will looked at him, a puzzled expression on his face. 

"What?" Still dancing, one hand around his book of tales, fingers from his other hand wrapped around suspenders.

"Why did you do it?"

 _Do what_? Jake wanted to ask, but he knew what his brother meant and his wings folded and melted, crashing, his elation ground to dust beneath his brother's speculative gaze.

"Come," he said, and Jake followed without thought, as he always did, letting Will lead him. Except this wasn't their next adventure; but if truth be told, it was the most important one. It was easy enough to weave between the ecstatic villagers who were willing to overlook any strange tendencies in exchange for their daughters' return, to find a private spot just around a house where they could talk. Will leaned against the wooden slats, hands shoved deep into his pockets and Jake stopped just out of arm's reach, his body finally stilling as the pipes faded, following the crowd. All of them moving away, leaving the brothers alone, as they had been and Jake hoped always would be. He began to think they wouldn't fit in with any village anymore, not long enough to stay and create any sort of roots.

"Why did you do that?" Will asked again, head tilted to the side as he watched Jake, his expression unfamiliar, which frightened Jake more than he would admit. How long had it been since he didn't understand something about Will? He had thought he knew every look, every motion, every line his brother might utter whether drunk or sober. Fear crowded his brain in that moment, all sound falling away as he concentrated on Will and nothing else.

He clung to the fact that Will didn't look angry and Jake closed his eyes, letting himself wander back, to relive it again, hoping his honest answer might satisfy Will and not... infuriate him? Upset him? He couldn't lie to his brother; couldn't con a conman, so to speak.

"It's like the story about the frog..."

"No tales, brother," Will said, shaking his head. "The only story I want to hear is the true one."

The truth? Had Jake ever been so afraid as he was during those moments when Will looked dead? He didn't think so. Will's voice interrupted his musing, soothing over the fear as Jake thought about it. "Don't just relive it, brother; tell me what you were thinking." 

"I was afraid, Will. You were on the ground, your face cold as ice, your body as still as stone. That spike protruding from your chest. I would have given anything to bring you back in that moment. _Anything_."

Will didn't speak, only leaned against the wall, staring at Jake. "Cavaldi said he knew a story from childhood, that only the kiss of true love could bring you back; that if it wasn't true love it would be the kiss of death. I thought he meant I should kiss you. I leaned over you, wanting nothing more than to cry. I couldn't see you like that, not after Lotte... then mother."

Hitched breath and it took Jake a moment to continue; their little sister, her death all his fault. How many times had Will reminded him of that? How many times did one person need to relive a failure? Will had never forgiven him for those magic beans. "I didn't save her, Will, but I couldn't let you die. So I kissed Angelica, I've seen the way you look at her; I knew that she might be the one to bring you back."

Wild Angelica, whose spirit and passion matched theirs, even if she did lick toads. He'd kiss her lips a thousand times if it meant Will never died. He wondered again if Lotte would have been like her if she had grown up.

"But you... she was only sleeping like death, and that kiss freed her and the girls. You, Will, had a spike through your heart. What if her kiss was unable to revive you? What if it didn't work? I didn't dare to lose you."

He'd taken Will's face in his hands, laugh lines smooth with the expression of death, the silent lips that usually mocked never to say the word beans again... "I didn't dare to risk it. What does she know of you? Who knows you better than I do? Who lov... loves you no matter what? That's _my_ place."

Wilhelm was all he had in this world. They'd never stayed in one place long enough to make a family, or even to let Jake discover if he wanted that option. No, his world was wrapped up in his brother and the stories they collected. The scholar in him loved those folktales. Even the tales didn't matter as much as Will in the end. An important lesson for Jake - learned only today.

Jake closed his eyes, his book falling from his hands unnoticed. "Your life _is_ my story, Will."

He couldn't say another word. Usually it was Will who wove the tales into life, who sold terrified townsfolk about some disaster, Jake only wrote them down. 

A sound of shoes scuffling against the ground, then the feeling of warm hands pressed to his neck, fingers inside the cravat, his pulse beating against damp palms and Jake opened his eyes, watching Will, who was so close. 

They'd been accused of buggery by the French already, and Jake's rash action only added to that charge, should anyone speak of it. Their lives would be forfeit if they weren't careful, and kissing his brother in front of witnesses because he didn't trust Angelica to give a kiss of true love? Outright foolishness.

"Do you forgive me?"

Still Will said nothing and they stared at each other, Jake's hands in fists, shoved into his pockets, supported by nothing but his brothers' hands. If Will changed his grip, tightened it, he'd cut off the air Jake breathed. Glasses crooked, dark eyes staring into light, and Jake opened his mouth to say... anything, but Will shook his head. Hands moved, releasing their grip, Will's calloused thumb caressed Jake's lips.

Then finally, a familiar expression from Will; the same look of exasperation Jake was used to when he didn't accept money from their cons. Or when Jake refused to join Will with his latest catch, some soft female who only giggled annoyingly. Instead, he relaxed, letting the noise of the world filter back into his hearing. The music was distant, but he could hear the villagers laughing, a murmur of noise, a babbling brook in the background, the sound tinkling like coins in a money sack.

"I'd have no story without you, Jacob."

A soft chuckle and Jake felt warm breath across his lips well before he realized that Will was going to kiss him. Lips pressed against his and Jake wanted to sing. Did this mean that Will was no longer upset with him? It had to, yes? Hands yanked from trouser pockets, fluttering about until they settled on Will's chest, heartbeat strumming as fast as his own. 

There was nothing tentative in Will's kiss, unlike the one Jake gave him earlier. With no one around to watch and criticize, no one to gasp like Angelica had or giggle like one of the girls had. 

Only the two brothers alone, Jake's hands weaving through Will's shirt, Will's hands caressing skin, thumbs against earlobes, stubble scratching his chin, but Jake didn't care. An awkward moment with noses bumping and glasses even more askew until Jake remembered to remove them, then nothing but heat and wetness. Tongue between his lips, nipping teeth, and soft groans. 

He swayed forward, knowing his brother as well as he knew himself, yet learning him all over again. A home wherever he traveled. Something Jake had always been sure of, but now, this kiss was an extension of that. Something brought on by death, yes, but by life as well. Warmth and all that Jake desired in this world. Just Will.

 


End file.
